Remote transmission of applications from a server to a client device is often used in the context of gaming. For a multiplayer gaming environment, several client devices may interact with each other in the same gaming environment through a data center (e.g., game server). The data center is connected to each of the client devices over a network and services gameplay for the different client devices by managing input and output for the client devices. For example, an explosion occurring in the gaming environment at one client device may be utilized by the data center to determine what is displayed on another client device (e.g., remnants from the explosion).
For certain multiplayer games, the native capacity of a game running at a client device may only allow for a certain number of split-screens to share the display of that client device. In other words, a single game instance running on a single client device may only support the shared display of a maximum number of split-screens. Any additional split-screens wishing to share the display of the client device are not allowed to do so. Instead, additional screens beyond the maximum number desiring to interact in the same multi-player gaming environment must be realized by running an additional game instance on a different client device. This is due to the fact that each game instance requires a certain amount of resources to operate, and extending the number of split-screens sharing a display at a client device beyond the maximum allowable number of split-screens would create strain on the resources of the client device, leading to inefficient and sub-optimal gameplay.
Take a multi-player first person shooter for example. Each client device running an instance of the first person shooter game may realize that the game instance only has the native capacity to allow for a maximum of four split screens to share a display on a single client device. Thus, each client device may only allow for a maximum of four different players to play using that client device at a time. Additional screens (e.g., additional players) wishing to join the multiplayer environment must be realized on a different client device.
However, situations often arise where it may be desirable to have a number of split-screens greater than that allowed by the native capacity of the game to share the display on a single client device. Therefore, there is a need for a mechanism to allow a number of split-screens to share a display on a client device beyond an application's native capacity for split-screening.